1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) apparatus, and more particularly to a backlight assembly assembled with multiple parts separable from each other to easily replace components thereof and an LCD apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information-processing devices have been rapidly developed to provide and facilitate various architectures, functions and information processing speed. Information is processed in such an information-processing device in the form of electrical signals. Thus, to visually display the information processed in an information-processing device, a display device is necessary to serve as an interface means between electrical signals and images to be displayed on the display device.
There have been developments in liquid crystal display devices, which are generally lighter and smaller than CRT type display devices. The liquid crystal display devices have been developed to have advanced functions such as full color and high resolution. As a result, the liquid crystal display devices are widely used for computer monitors, television sets, etc.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a conventional LCD apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 1, an LCD apparatus 40 includes a mold frame 10, a first lamp unit 16 and a second lamp unit 18 for generating light, a first lamp cover 12 and a second lamp cover 14 for reflecting the light from the first and second lamp units 16 and 18, a light guide plate 22 for guiding the light, a reflecting plate 20 for reflecting the light leaked from the light guide plate 22, one or more optical sheets 26 for controlling brightness of the light emitted from the light guide plate 22, a display unit 28 for displaying images in response to the light supplied from the optical sheet 26, and a top chassis 30 for fixing the display unit 28 to the mold frame 10.
The mold frame 10 provides a space for receiving the above-mentioned components. The first and second lamp units 16 and 18 are received at two end portions, respectively, of the receiving space. Each of the first and second lamp units 16 and 18 has a plurality of lamps. The first and second lamp units 16 and 18 are covered by the first and second lamp covers 12 and 14 to reflect light from the first and second lamp units 16 and 18, respectively. The reflecting plate 20, light guide plate 22, optical sheets 26 and display unit 28 are sequentially received in the receiving space of the mold frame 10. The top chassis 30 has a bottom surface, which is open to expose an effective display area of the display unit 28. The top chassis 30 is combined to the mold frame 10 to fix the display unit 28 to the mold frame 10.
In the LCD apparatus 40, the amount of light needed to display an image on the display unit 28 increases according as a size of the display unit 28 becomes larger. That is, in order to uniformly maintain the brightness distribution of the light supplied from the first and second lamp units 16 and 18 to the display unit 28 through the light guide plate, the amount of the light has to be increased in proportion to the increase of the size of the display unit 28. Accordingly, the conventional LCD apparatus 40 employs a plurality of lamps as shown in FIG. 1.
However, when the number of lamps of the first and second lamp units 16 and 18 increases so as to obtain the amount of the light appropriate to display images, a thickness of the LCD apparatus 40 becomes thicker.
Further, since the multiple lamps are disposed adjacent to the opposite side surfaces of the light guide plate 22, the heat emitted from the multiple lamps is concentrated on the side surfaces. As a result, circuit parts of the display unit 28 adjacent to the first and second lamp units 16 and 18 may be damaged.